Reciprocable-handle-actuated full cycle driving mechanism



Aug. 24, 1965 E. H. SIMS ETAL RECIPROCABLE-HANDLE-ACTUATED FULL CYCLE DRIVING MECHANISM 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June 21, 1963 INVENTORS EDWARD H. SIMS LESLIE SNEESBY WILLIAM $.SOUTAR J. 4 a 7,0%Z/%/ THEIR ATT RNEYS 1965 E. H. SIMS ETAL 3,202,020

RECIPROCABLE-HANDLE-ACTUATED FULL CYCLE DRIVING MECHANISM Flled June 2], 1963 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS EDWARD H. SIMS LESLIE SNEESBY WILLIAM S. SOUTAR V THEIR ATTORNEYS of the arrows on line 2 United States Patent 3,202,020 RECIPROCABLE-HANDLE-ACTUATED FULL CYCLE DRIVING MECHANlSM Edward H. Sims, West Ferry, Dundee, liiesiie Sneeshy,

Downlield, Dundee, and William S. Soutar, Dundee, Scotland, assignors to The National Cash Register (Zompany, Dayton, Ohio, a corporation of Maryland Filed June 21, 1963, Ser. No. 289,471 Claims priority, application Great Britain, July 17, 1962,

. 27,356/62 6 Claims. (ill. fit-$12) This invention relates to a driving mechanism for translating a partial angular rotary movement of a manually operable driving member into a full cycle of movement of a driven member, and particularly relates to a driving mechanism for acash register, a calculating machine, or a similar machine, adapted to impart a full cycle of rotation to the main shaft of the machine by reciprocation of an operating handle through a smaller angle.

Manually operable mechanisms of the above-mentioned kind are known, but such prior mechanisms have the disadvantage that the speed of rotation of the main shaft is irregular at the point of changeover of direction of reciprocation of the operating handle, and the provision of a separate mechanism is required to insure that the handle is reciprocated through its full stroke.

It is, therefore, the object of the present invention to provide a manually operable driving mechanism in which the speed of rotation of the main shaft is maintained at a substantially constant rate during the change-over of the direction of reciprocation of the operating handle,

and which eliminates the necessity'for the provision of a separate full-stroke mechanism.

1 Accordingly, the invention comprises a driving mechanism for translating a partial angular rotary movement of a manually operable driving member into a full cycle of movement of a driven member, and includes driven devices coupled to the driven member and a driving device on the driving member which is adapted differentially to engage the driven devices so as to communicate a unidirectional movement to the driven member irrespective of the direction of movement of the driving member.

The above and other, subsidiary, features of the present invention, as applied by way of example to one manner of carrying it into efiect, will now be described and are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a View, as seen from the right-hand side of a machine, of the handle-driven driving mechanism making up the present invention;

FIG. 2. is a sidespacing view of the handle-driven driving mechanism of FIG. 1, as viewed in the direction handle and its connecting screw disassociatcd therefrom;

FIG. 3 is a modification of the handle-driven driving mechanism shown in PEG. 1 andillustrates a centrifugal speed governing device connected thereto by a train of gearsiand FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing in detail the precise gear arrangement employed in the handle-driven driving mechanism of FIGS. 1 and 2.

The instant invention is preferably mounted on a right side frame 10 (FIG. 2) of a calculating or similar machine and is connected so as to drive the main operating shaft of such machine either directly or through any suitable train of gears.

2 thereof, showing the operating relationship,

. terconnected operating The operating handle, indicated generally by the num- Patented Aug. 24, 1965 FIG. 2, the boss 14 is provided with a central counterbore adapted to receivetherein a shouldered retaining screw, 16, the threadedend of which is receivable within a threaded boring in one end of a hub 19, which has its other end journaled in the machine right side frame 10.

he hub-carried lugs 15 are received in rectangular apertures 17 (FIGS. 1 and 2) in an. operating plate 18, secured on said one end of the hub 19, the operating plate 13 and the hub 19 being urged clockwise, as seen in FIG. 1, by a strong spring2t) connected between the plate18 and an appropriate stud (not shown) in the right side frame 11?. Also secured to the hub 19, so as to be rocked therewith and being disposed at an angle of forty-five degrees above the horizontal center line thereof, is a pawl-carrying framework comprising a, pairof similar plates 21 and 22 secured together in a spaced-apart relationship by an intervening hub 23, which hub 23 is pinned on the hub 19. As best understood from FIG. 2, journaled between the outer endsof the plates 21 and 22 is a short shaft 24 having oppositely-facing pawls 25 and 26 (see also FIG. 1) secured to the left-hand and right hand ends thereof, respectively. As illustrated, the plates 21 and 22 are further secured together in spaced-apart relationship at their outer ends by a spacer 27, free on the shaft 24. a

While the operating handle 11 is in its normal, unoperated, position, as illustrated in FIG. 1, a spring 28, stretched between an extension of the one operating pawl 25 and a stud 29 secured in the machine right side frame 113 along the horizontal center line of the hub 19, urges the pawl 25 into engagement with one or the other of a pair of diametrically opposed notches 30a and 30b in the periphery of a disc 30, in turn rotatably carried on the hub 19. At this time, as the operating pawls 25 and 26 are connected for unitary movement by the short shaft 24, the pawl 26 is in alignment, but held out of coopera tion, with one or the other of two diametrically opposed notches 31a and 31b in the periphery of a further disc 31, which likewise is mounted rotatably on the hub 19.

Integral with each disc 31) and 31, so as to be rotatable gear 32 and 33, respectively therewith on the hub 19, is a (FIG. 2). As seen in FIGS. 1 and 4, the gear 32 meshes with a pinion 34 free on a shouldered stud 35 carried by and extending outwardly from the machine right side frame Ill, which pinion 34 alsomeshes with one gear 36 of a pair of gears 36 and 37 secured in a spaced-apart one to the other, by an intervening hub 3 8 fixed on a shaft 39. For the purposes hereof, the shaft 39 may be considered the main shaft of a machine incorporating the instant invention. As best seen in FIG. 4,

the gear 33 rotatable on the hub 19.

In order to provide a support for the hub 19, a bracket 40 (shown in dot-and-dash lines in FIG. 1) is suitably secured to the outer side of the machine right side frame 10 and is provided with a central boring suitably engaging and supporting a precise zone of the hub 19. A stop stud 41, extending into the path of movement of a pair of angularly-spaced-apart ears 18a and 1812 on the operating plate 18, is secured to the bracket 40, so as to limit rocking movement of the said operating plate 18 and the .in-

handle 11. As illustrated in FIG. 1, the plate car 18:: is normally held in cooperation with the stop stud 41 under the influence of the spring 20. i

When the operating handle 11 is rocked counter-clock wise (FIG. 1), the operating plate 18 is positively rocked counter-clockwise therewith against the tension of the spring 20, the ear 18a thereof moving away from thestop stud 41. Counter-clockwise movement of the plate 18, through the hub 19 and the plates 21 and.22, causes the pawls 25 and 26 also to be rockedcounter-clockwise.

The pawl 25, being at this time in engagement with the notch 30a in the disc 30, rotates said disc 36 and its interconnected gear 32 counter-clockwise, thereby to rotate the meshing pinion 34 clockwise (see also FIG. 4). As best understood from FIG. 4, clockwise movement of the pinion 34 drives the interconnected gears as and 37 and the shaft 39 counter-clockwise, rotation of the gear 37, through the meshing gear 33, driving its associated disc 31 idly clockwise. During idle clockwise rotation of the disc 31, afull peripheral surface thereof is positioned beneath the nose of the associated pawl 26 positively to prevent disengagement of the other pawl from the notch a under the influence of the spring 28 when the pawl-carrying framework passes beneath the horizontal center line of the hub 19. That is, while the spring 28 becomes active during counter-clockwise rotation of the disc 30 for rocking the pawl 25 from driving engagement with the disc notch 30a, the reverse (clockwise) rotation of the companion disc 31 at such time is effective for preventing that from happening. Then, at the conclusion of the counter-clockwise operating stroke of the handle 11, which is terminated by the car 1812 of the operating plate 18 coming into engagement with the stop stud 41, the notch 311), through the above-set-out idle clockwise movement of the disc 31, is positioned in cooperative relationship with the nose of the pawl 26, and the spring 28 immediately causes the pawl 25 to be disengaged from the notch 30a and the pawl 26 to be engaged with the notch 3112, as the pawl-carrying framework is at this time positioned forty-five degrees below the horizontal cenu ter line of the hub 19.

The ratio of the gearing of the instant invention is so arranged that the ninety-degree movement of the operating handle 11 in its counter-clockwise, operating, direction imparts a (likewise counter-clockwise) one-hundredand-eighty-degree movement to the shaft 39, and the restoring movement of the operating handle 11 in the other (clockwise) direction imparts an additional one-hundredand-eighty-degree movement in the same (counter-clockwise) direction to said shaft 39. As understood from FIG. 4, this latter movement of the shaft 39 in the same direction is through'the gear 37 thereon being in direct mesh with the disc-carrying gear 33, all in the manner now described.

Upon release of the operating handle 11, the plate 18 is restored immediately clockwise under the influence of the spring 20, carrying with it, through clockwise rotation of the interconnected hub 19, the pawl-carrying framework. Asthe operating pawl 26 is now in engagement with the notch 31-11, the disc 31 and its interconnected gear 33 are caused to be driven clockwise, in turn driving the gear 37 and the shaft 39 counter-clockwise. Of course, the gear 36 at such time drives the pinion 34 clockwise, and the pinion 34, through its intermeshing gear 32, drives the associated disc 30 idly counter-clockwise until the ear 1801 again contacts the stop stud 41 to arrest movement of the operating plate 18. During such idle counter-clockwise movement of the disc 30, a full peripheral surface thereof is positioned between the nose of the pawl 25 to now prevent disengagement of the pawl 26 from the notch 31b by the spring 28 when the pawlcarrying framework passes or returns above the horizontal center line of the hub 19; this being maintained until, at the conclusion of the return clockwise movement of the operating handle 11, the notch 3th: is moved into cooperative relationship with the nose of said pawl 25. At this time, the spring 28 immediately disengages the pawl 26 from the notch 31b and engages the pawl 25 in the notch 30b.

7 Thus, the mechanism is prepared for imparting a further three hundred and sixty degrees of movement to the shaft 39, inasmuch as, upon a further counter-clockwise operating movement of the handle 11, counter-clockwise movement of the plate 18 and the hub 19 causes the pawl-carrying framework to rotate counter-clockwise,

which movement drives the gearing in the previously-described manner. Of course, while the first one hundred and eighty degrees of movement of the shaft 39 will now be through engagement of the operating pawl 25 with the disc notch 3%, the last one hundred and eighty degrees of movement thereof will be through the operating pawl 26 engaging the disc notch 31a.

As stated above, during the time that one or the other of the operating pawls 25 and 2:5 is in operative engagement with its associated notch 3&1, 31th or 31a, 31b, the full periphery of the disc 31) or 31 prevents the engaged pawl from becoming operatively disassociated from its notch when the pawl-carrying framework is moved either above or below the horizontal center line of the hub 19 to effect change-over of the direction of rotation in Which said pawls are urged by the spring 28. Thus, a movement of the operating plate 18 in one direction, and a consequent rotation of the shaft 39, can only be commenced after a complete movement has been made in the other direction, since the operating pawls 25 and 26 are locked against change-over movement at all intermediate positions of the plate 11 By this means, a full-stroke mechanism is incorporated in the drive mechanism disclosed herein, and there is no need to provide a separate fullstroke mechanism, as is usual in manually-operable machines.

In the event the spring 28 fails to effect disengagement of the pawl 25 or 26 and engagement of the pawl 26 or 25 with their respective associated notches, the engaged pawl is carnmed out of its notch and the disengaged pawl thereby rocked into its notch, during the commencement of movement of the pawl-carrying framework in the direction opposite to that in which it was last moved under control of the operating handle 11. The camrning action is effected, for instance, by the initial clockwise movement of the pawl-carrying framework, after it has been moved fully counter-clockwise, causing the rear surface of the pawl 25 to engage and be cammed clockwise by the rear surface of the notch 30a, which movement is communicated to the pawl 26 by the short shaft 24 to cause the latter pawl to engage the notch 31b.

Referring to the modification of the invention shown in FIG. 3, the stop stud 41 is positioned on the bracket below the center line of the driving mechanism and coopcrates with surfaces 18a and 18b formed as shoulders or ears on the operating plate 18. The operating plate 18 is provided with a further pair of surfaces 180 and 18d so arranged as to contact a resilient cup-shaped member 42 suitably secured to a boss 43 on the bracket 40 just prior to the stop stud 41 being engaged by either ear surface 18a or ear surface 1%, thereby to prevent shock as the stop stud 41 is engaged by said ear surfaces.

Each of the notches 30a and 39b is formed as a ratchet tooth engageable by the operating pawl 25, it being understood that the notches ?illa and 3112 (not shown in FIG. 3) are similarly shaped so as to be engageable by the operating pawl 26. In this arrangement, the change-over of engagement of the pawls 25 and 26 is effected solely by the spring 28.

The remainder of the handle-driven driving mechanism is as previously described in conneciton with FIGS. 1, 2, and 4, and no further description of its construction or mode of operation is considered necessary.

In order to prevent misoperation of the machine through excessive speed of rotation of the shaft 39, said shaft may be operatively connected to a speed governing and controlling device such as a centrifuge or a dashpot.

A suitable centrifugal speed governing and controlling device will now be described with reference to FIG. 3.- Secured to the shaft 39, to the rear of the pair of gears 36 and 37 thereon, is a large'gear 44 meshing with a pinion 45 integral with a gear 46, the pinion 45 and gear 46 being rotatably mounted on a stud 47 secured between the right side frame 1% and a bracket 48 mounted adjacent thereto. The gear 46 meshes with a gear 49 connected by a hub 50 to a pinion 51, the gear 4Q, the hub 50, and the pinion 51 being freely rotatable on a stud 52 secured in the bracket 48. A further stud 53, mounted in an auxiliary bracket 54, and passing through an aperture in the bracket 48, has rotatably mounted thereon a centrifugal member 55 having integral therewith a pinion 56 in mesh with the pinion 51. Upon counter-clockwise rotation of the shaft 39, when the handle-driven driving mechanism is operated, the centrifugal member 55 will, through the train of gears just described, be driven clockwise to govern and control the speed of rotation of the shaft 39.

It is now seen that there has been provided a rather unique and simplified construction, and yet one which is extremely efliective for the purposes intended, and, while the invention has been described in the several particular forms, it is obvious that structural changes may be embodied without departing from the spirit of the invention. It is therefore desired not to be limited to those precise forms beyond the limitations which may be imposed by the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A driving mechanism for translating a partial angular rotary movement of a driving member in two directions into a full cycle of movement of a main shaft, comprising a driving device operatively connected to the driving member and having a frame rockably supporting a pair of integral driving pawls; a pair of contra-rotatable discs; mechanism for coupling said pair of discs to the main shaft so as to enable each, when driven, to impart one hundred and eighty degrees of unidirectional rotation thereto; a pair of diametrically opposed notches in each disc; each driving pawl being operably aligned with an associated disc and adapted to engage one of the pair of notches therein during movement of the driving member in a respective one of its two directions of partial rotation; and full surfaces of said discs so arranged with respect to said integral driving pawls as to prevent disengagement of an engaged one of the pawls from its respective notch by cooperation with the disengaged one of the pawls until a complete partial angular movement of the driving member in one of its said two directions has caused the engaged pawl of the interconnected driving device to drive its associated disc through a full movement to present a notch to the disengaged pawl.

2. The driving mechanism of claim 1 wherein the driving member is resiliently moved in one of its two directions of movement.

3. A driving mechanism for translating a partial angular rotary movement of a driving member in two directions into a full cycle of movement of a main shaft, comprising a driving device operatively connected to a driving member and having a frame rockably supporting a pair of integral driving pawls; a pair of contra-rotatable discs; mechanism for coupling said pair of discs to the main shaft so as to enable each, when driven, to impart one hundred and eighty degrees of unidirectional rotation thereto; a pair of diametrically opposed notches in each disc; each driving pawl being operably aligned with an associated disc and adapted to engage one of the pair of notches therein during movement of the driving member in a respective one of its two directions of partial rotation; full surfaces of the said discs so arranged with respect to said integral driving pawls as to prevent disengagement of an engaged one of the pawls from its respective notch by cooperation with the disengaged one of the pawls until a complete partial angular movement of the driving memher in one of its said two directions has caused the engaged pawl of the interconnected driw'ng device to drive its associated disc through a full movement to present a notch to the disengaged pawl; and disc notch camming surfaces for automatically rocking the pawl-carrying frame upon completion of a full movement of said associated disc so as to simultaneously disengage the pawl engaged with the notch thereof and engage the disengaged paw with one of the notches in its associated disc then aligned therewith.

4. A driving mechanism for translating a partial angular rotary movement of a driving member in two directions into a full cycle of movement of a main shaft, comprising a driving device operatively connected to the driving memher and having a frame rockably supporting a pair of integral driving pawls; a pair of contra-rotatable discs; mechanism for coupling said pair of discs to the main shaft so as to enable each, when driven, to impart one hundred and eighty degrees of unidirectional rotation thereto; a pair of diametrically opposed notches in each discs; each driving pawl :being operably aligned with an associated disc and adapted to engage one of the pair of notches therein during movement of the driving member in a respective one of its two directions of partial rotation; an automatic change-over device effective for causing one of the integral pawls to engage an aligned one of the notches in its associated disc to drive the latter through ninety degrees of rotation when the driving member is operated in one direction and cause simultaneously said one pawl to be disengaged from its said notch and the other pawl to engage one of the notches in its associated disc immediately when aligned therewith to drive the latter through ninety degrees of rotation when the driving member is operated in the opposite direction; and full surfaces of the said disc so arranged with respect to said integral driving pawls as to prevent disengagement of an engaged one of the pawls from its respective notch by cooperation with the disengaged one of the pawls until a complete partial angular movement of the driving member in one of its two directions has caused the engaged pawl of the interconnected driving device to drive its associated disc through a full movement to present a notch to the disengaged pawl.

5. The driving mechanism of claim 4 in which the mechanism for coupling the pair of contra-rotatable discs to the main shaft includes a pinion in mesh both with a gear secured to one of the discs and wit-h a gear secured to the main shaft, and a further gear secured to the main shaft and in mesh with a gear secured to the other one of the discs; the arrangement being such that a ninety-degree rotation of either disc will impart one hundred and eighty degrees of unidirectional rotation to the main shaft and ninety degrees of rotation in an opposite direction to the other disc.

6. The driving mechanism of claim 4 in which the automatic change-over device includes a spring so connected to the pair of integral driving pawls that, in consequence of movement of the frame, the direction of force exerted by said spring is changed over.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 47,315 4/65 McGill 74-126 758,578 4/04 Yokoum 74-126 1,965,238 7/34 Hermanek 74-126 3,026,732 3/ 62 Corvisier 74-l42 X References ifited by the Appiicant UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,687,658 8/54 Nelson et a1.

FOREIGN PATENTS 1,076,462 4/54 France.

DON A. WAITE, Primary Examiner. 

1. A DRIVING MECHANIM FOR TRANSLATING A PARTIAL ANGULAR ROTARY MOVEMENT OF A DRIVING MEMBER IN TWO DIRECTIONS INTO A FULL CYCLE OF MOVEMENT F A MAIN SHAFT, COMPRISING, A DRIVING DEVICE OPERATIVELY CONNECTED TO THE DRIVING MEMBER AND HAVING A FRAME ROCKABLY SUPPORTING A PAIR OF INTEGRAL DRIVING PAWLS; A PAIR OF CONTRA-ROTATABLE DISCS; MECHANISM FOR COUPLING SAID PAIR OF DISCS TO THE MAIN SHAFT SO AS TO ENABLE EACH, WHEN DRIVEN, TO IMPART ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY DEGREES OF UNIDIRECTIONAL ROTATION THERETO; A PAIR OF DIAMETRICALLY OPPOSED NOTCHES IN EACH DISC; EACH DRIVING PAWL BEING OPERABLY ALIGNED WITH AN ASSOCIATED DISC ANDADAPTED TO ENGAGE NE OF THE PAIR OF NOTCHES THEREIN DURING MOVEMENT OF THE DRIVING MEMBER IN A RESPECTIVE ONE OF ITS TWO DIRECTIONS OF PARTIAL ROTATION; AND FULL SURFACES OF SAID DISCS SO ARRANGED WITH RESPECT TO SAID INTEGRAL DRIVING PAWLS AS TO PREVENT DISENAGEMENT OF AN ENGAGED ONE OF THE PAWLS FROM ITS RESPECTIVE NOTCH BY COOPERATION WITH THE DISENGAGED ONE OF THE PAWL UNTIL A COMPLETE PARTIAL ANGULAR MOVEMENT OF THE DRIVING MEMBER IN ONE OF ITS SAID TWO DIRECTIONS HAS CAUSED THE ENGAGED PAWL OF THE INTERCONNECED DRIVING DEVICE TO DRIVE ITS ASSOCIATED DISC THROUGH A FULL MOVEMENT TO PRESENT A NOTCH TO THE DISENGAGED PAWL. 